Monthly Update - February 2014

Comics I Read And Liked:
Alex + Ada #4
Chew #40
Daredevil #36
Deadly Class #2
Fatale #20
Five Weapons #7
Fuse #1
Hawkeye #15
Injustice Year Two #2
Lazarus #6
New Warriors #1
Punisher #1-2
Rat Queens #5
She-Hulk #1
Winter Soldier Bitter March #1

Resolutions Update:
1. Don't die - 2 months in, still accomplished. In fact, with cancer in remission, this one's looking pretty good.

3. Learn Spanish. Still working on the Duolingo, still on track and reaching level 8 according to my animated owl coach. And I can say "The elephant walks across the strawberries" in Spanish. In case I ever need to.

4. Read at least 12 books. Looking real good. Got in three this month: Nick Pizzolato's Galveston, Elmore Leonard's Pagan Babies and Nick Hornby's The Polysyllabic Spree. Plus started reading King in Yellow, and made some progress on Sherlock Holmes and the Elmore Leonard Complete Westerns. Total right now: 4.

5. Be 10% less of an asshole. Again, at least 5%. Some days 10.

6. Spend time with as many of my friends as possible, as much as possible. Managed this as well, especially in the last couple weeks when my cancer was pronounced in remission. In addition to podcasting, I managed a few dinner and lunch outings (including some new places with new people, like Gus's Fried Chicken, Uchiko, Titaya Thai Cuisine and Stuffed Cajun Meat Market), a movie night to watch Midnight Run, another round of Karaoke Apocalypse, had a Rock Band get together and attended a few birthday bashes.

7. Play at least 12 new board/card games this year. I got the expansions for King of Tokyo, but other than that, no boardgaming this month. Also discovered via the iPad that I may just be too dumb to play Agricola. I'm slowly getting better at it, though. And my plans already include Battlestar Galactica in March. Right now I'm holding at 2 new games.

8. Stay under 200 lbs. Still holding in the 190s. Slacked off on exercise a bit this month, now that chemo is done for a while it's time to get serious again. In the last week, I started doing push-ups, situps and then elliptical. Not a lot right now, but building up each day.


9. Go bike riding with my kids. Funny story. Did this once, and found out my old (college days) bike is just not up to the task. I need either a new bike or a serious overhaul of this one.

10. Travel. Considered Chicago's C2E2 or Wondercon, but ultimately decided I'd rather spend the money on a birthday party or something local. Thinking about where to go in May for our anniversary, if anywhere. Considering L.A. in the summer so I can visit a friend and see one of Jason Reitman's live readings. Considering a summer beach trip for Suzanne and the kids. Started doing a little research on Spain trips... turns out they're super-expensive.

11. Cook More - Still perfecting my Brussels Sprouts recipes, learned how to cook a good steak on the cast iron skillet, but nothing new added to the repertoire this month.

Where I Ate This Month:
1. Curly's BBQ
2. Torchy's Tacos
3. Gus's World Famous Fried Chicken
4. Stuffed Cajun Meat Market
5. Uchiko
6. Opal Divine's
7. Black Star Co-Op
8. Kobe Japanese Steakhouse
9. Lucy's Fried Chicken
10. Titaya's Thai Cuisine

Stuff I Wrote:
1. Veronica Mars Season One Part One Rewatch


Stuff I Podcasted:
1. Roguecasts Episode 20-23 - Comic news, Guardians of the Galaxy trailer, Image #1s, Marvel Now, Frozen, Firefly, Star Wars and lots more
2. TV Dudes - True Detective, Black Mirror, Lost Watch With Us, Top Chef, Rick and Morty, The Walking Dead, Agents of SHIELD, Almost Human, Mind Games, Enlisted & Community